Prepare yourselves, I’ve hit sweet potato season with a bang. I’m a big potato fan in general but I’m always looking for ways to make a potato a meal. You may be thinking, “salad? on top of a sweet potato?” but I assure you, it’s awesome (if warm salads are your thing).

Take this idea and run with it. I can imagine using different grains or even chickpeas in the sweet potato mixture along with different cheese like goat, cheddar, or any other cheese that melts well. As for the salad, regular greens, kale, or spinach would work great. Have fun, play around, and just know this won’t be the only potato meal you see from me this season!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400˚. Scrub sweet potato and cut in half. Place cut side down in a roasting pan, drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake until potatoes are tender, 35-45 minutes depending on size of sweet potato.

Once sweet potatoes are done, carefully scoop insides into a bowl, leaving 1/4-1/2″ thick wall in the sweet potato. Add blue cheese, quinoa, and rosemary to the bowl of sweet potato and mix until well combined and cheese is starting to melt. Divide sweet potato mixture back into sweet potatoes.

Return sweet potatoes to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes until tops are beginning to crisp and cheese has fully melted.

While sweet potatoes are baking, combine arugula, cranberries, and pecans in a bowl. In a separate container, shake or whisk together olive oil, vinegar, brown mustard, and maple syrup. Pour just enough dressing over greens for them to be lightly covered (you might not use all the dressing).

When sweet potatoes are done, remove and place 1/2 the arugula salad over the sweet potato and serve.

Notes

*Sweet potatoes can be baked ahead of time and reheated/baked again for the second baking when ready.

I have some sweet potatoes I’ve been neglecting because I just couldn’t think up something outside of the box this time around, but I like the idea of using the skins as bowls for a sweet-potato quinoa mash. They look easily portable too, so I can stick one in a tupperware and take it to work!

I love this recipe. I have this idea I have to have a green and orange vegetable everyday. This gives that with the salad greens, the sweet potato, and then the extra protein of the quinoa, cheese, and almonds. Really tasty, really simple, and really healthy, which is what I admire about so many of the recipes on this site.